The Old English Sheepdog began as a working dog of the English West Country, and almost everything about it still comes from that job. Here is what we can stand behind, what we have left out, and what it means for life with one today.

The Cockapoo is a Cocker Spaniel and Poodle cross with no ancient pedigree and no kennel club standard. Here is what its history does and doesn’t tell us, and what that means for living with one.

From Welsh cattle drovers to a royal household, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi has a working past that explains almost everything about the dog on your sofa. Here is where the breed came from, what it was bred to do, and what that means for living with one now.

Where the Dalmatian really came from, what it was asked to do for a living, and why a dog built to run beside horses is a demanding companion today. We have kept to what the breed clubs and kennel clubs can support and named the myths as myths.

The Pug has spent centuries as a companion to emperors, princes and painters. We trace where it came from, what it was bred for, and what that past means for owners in the UK and the US.

The Dobermann began with one German tax collector who wanted a dog to keep him safe on his rounds. Here is how a working guard became a breed, and what that history means for living with one today.

The Rottweiler began as a drover’s and butcher’s dog in a German market town, nearly disappeared when the work did, and was rebuilt as a police and companion breed. Here is how that working past explains the dog on your sofa today.

The Bulldog was bred for a brutal job that Parliament ended in 1835, and it survived by becoming a companion. Here is where the breed came from, what shaped its look, and what that means for living with one now.

From Highland sheep dogs to Balmoral, the show ring and a certain film star, this is how the Rough Collie became the dog we know. We have also set out what living with one means today, in the UK and the US.

From woodcock flushing in British cover to the show rings of Crufts and the American split, this is how the English Cocker Spaniel became the dog it is. We also look at what that working past means for living with one today.